


A Tale of the Planets

by queenofinsanity6



Category: Milky Way (Anthropomorphic)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 20:54:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofinsanity6/pseuds/queenofinsanity6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little tale of the Planets and what happens when the status quo shifts unexpectedly</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of the Planets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [musicforwolves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicforwolves/gifts).



> Somehow this went from a serious story about the three of them to a sweet little storybook tale. I'm not sure how, but I'm certainly not going to argue.

Once upon a time there were three planets. 

Well, technically, there were nine planets. Eight if you want to be exclusionary and get rid of Pluto, but poor little Pluto has enough on her plate without being kicked out of the planet club. 

All nine of them had known each other for longer than they could actually remember, and just as you can imagine, that had made things rather complicated over the years. They learned quickly to stay in their separate areas for fear of disaster, but that hadn't stopped Saturn from getting furious at Uranus for copying her signature rings, nor had it stopped Neptune from constantly trying to steal Uranus' place. More recently, Earth had gotten most of the others quite irritated with him because he'd started throwing things at all the other planets and had tried to convince everyone that poor little Pluto wasn't even a planet at all.

Needless to say, everyone was getting tired of Earth’s antics. Everyone, that is, except for Mars. To him, Earth’s curiosity was endearing, a quiet reminder of what has come before. They’d been lovers once, a long time ago, back when the solar system was smaller and life hadn’t begun to take off on Earth. They’d been close, but ultimately he’d decided taking care of his new lifeforms was more important, and the two had split ways.

It hadn’t stopped them being fascinated with each other-so much so that even Earth’s children felt drawn to their planetary neighbor. In recent years, however, the attraction had grown to the point where Mars was certain that they would end up together again.

At least, until Jupiter stepped in and took that comet for Earth. No one saw it coming, least of all Mars. Suddenly, everything was different. Mars watched jealously as Earth went to Jupiter, blushing and grateful over the rescue from a danger he hadn’t properly anticipated. 

Mars would have taken that comet for Earth, given the chance. Even if it had been so big it would have destroyed him or cost him a moon, he would have gladly given everything for a chance to prove his love to Earth.

That chance seemed to be lost, now. Jupiter was big and strong and beautiful in ways that Mars never could be. Earth was smitten, hopelessly enchanted by Jupiter’s charm and good looks. He could see it in the way they looked at each other now. Earth no longer seemed to care about Mars, and so Mars vowed he would no longer care about Earth.

But Mars had spent so long focused on Earth that he didn’t know where to start. He tried to go to Saturn for advice, but she didn’t understand.

“Why are you so focused on Earth?” She asked disapprovingly. “You’re a beautiful planet, Mars. Why don’t you just focus on that? I bet with a little bit of work, you could really shine. And then you’d be so beautiful it wouldn’t matter who wanted to be with you.”

“Will you help me?” Mars replied uncertainly. “I don’t know how. I never cared about that before.”

Saturn shook her head. “I don’t do that anymore. Not after Uranus copied my rings. Talk to Venus. She’ll help you out.”

And so Mars went to find Venus, hoping hard that she would be able to help. She was dancing in the sunlight when he found her, and so he waited patiently until she was done.

“Can you help me? I’m trying to forget about Earth, and Saturn said I should ask you to help me be beautiful enough that it doesn’t matter.”

Venus laughed, though not unkindly. “Mars, you don’t need to be beautiful. You already are. I can’t improve upon nature, and I don’t want to.”

“But then what should I do? I’m so lonely.” He sighed bitterly.

“What you need is a date. You’ve been dwelling on Earth so long that you’ve forgotten there are other people out there. Mercury has a crush on you, why don’t you give it a try?”

“I guess it couldn’t hurt.” Mars replied doubtfully.

“Of course not! Go for it!” Venus nudged him away playfully. “It’ll be good for you.”

Mars took the hint and left, heading to Mercury with no small amount of confusion. He didn’t want to date another boy yet, he didn’t think. But maybe Venus was right, and he just needed to try.

When he arrived, Mercury was obviously pleased to see him. He was stammery and overeager, and Mars knew that Venus was right.

“Hi, Mercury. Would you like to go out with me? Venus said that it would do me some good to try something new, and you’re kind of cute.”

Mercury went bright red. “I would love to, thank you! Uranus is throwing a big party tonight. We could go together, maybe?”

Mars nodded. “I’d like that. I’ll see you there?”

Mercury agreed, and Mars went home to prepare, trying to get excited about his date. He wanted to be interested, but he just couldn’t quite get there. Maybe it would happen while they were together, he thought. Or maybe he just had to keep trying until he did get excited.

He went to the party determined to like Mercury no matter what. The other boy was looking his absolute best that night, so it shouldn’t have been hard. But even as they danced and talked together, all Mars could think about was Earth in Jupiter’s arms a little ways off. Earth was so beautiful tonight it hurt.

He ended up retreating to the side to figure out what to do. Uranus was there, watching bemusedly. “Not digging your date tonight, dude?”

Mars looked away in shame. “Not really. Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Well, yeah. it’s obvious you’re still digging on Earth. it’s obvious you’re not going to have a good time with Mercury. But you can use this, man.” Uranus gives him a knowing smirk

“What do you mean?”

“Go out and pretend you’re having the time of your life. Be loud, maybe go talk to Earth and Jupiter. Show him how happy you are without him. He’ll be so jealous he’ll be begging to take you back!”

“You really think that’ll work?” Mars asked excitedly.

“Totally, bro. Go for it.”

Mars darted back to the dance floor to kiss his nervous looking date and reassure him that everything was just fine. Pretty soon they were the talk of the party, laughing and dancing until they were sore from head to toe. Earth couldn’t possibly have missed it. But it didn’t seem to make Earth any more interested in him, and at the end of the night Mercury excused himself and told Mars he didn’t think things were working out.

Mars didn’t know what to do. He left the party and wandered around, bitter and more depressed than ever. He didn’t plan on ever going home now. There was no point.

He ended up running into Neptune and Pluto instead. They waved him over to sit with them, and so he stepped over.

“Hi girls. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Neptune smiled at him. “You’re not. We’re glad to see you. Not many people come out this far.”

“Sit and talk with us. You look sad.” Pluto added sweetly.

“I am sad.” He admitted. “I miss Earth, but I don’t think I’ll ever get him back now. And nothing seems to help. I don’t know what to do.”

Pluto and Neptune exchanged sad looks. “Sometimes you just have to let it hurt.” Neptune tells him quietly. “Bad things happen, and there isn’t always a way to make it go away.”

“Time helps. Stepping back and giving yourself time to heal. You two have been apart for a long time, and you never let yourself grow on your own.” Pluto added.

Mars looked glum. “Isn’t there anything I can do? This really sucks.”

“Friends help.” Pluto mused. “That’s how we’re so close.”

Mars smiled shyly, an idea forming. “Can I be your friend, then?”

The two girls laughed together and Neptune nodded. “Sure. I think we’d like that.”

And so Mars stayed with his two new friends, and they laughed together and grew together. And before long, Mars realized that he wasn’t there to try to cheer up anymore, he was there because he cared about his new friends. The three of them had something brighter than a lost romance. They had each other.


End file.
